Dr. Joel Fitzgerald, Sr. has been named Waterloo’s new police chief, subject to city council ratification Monday night. Fitzgerald has been chief deputy in the Philadelphia Office of the Sheriff; he previously served as the first African American Chief of Police in the city of Fort Worth, Texas. The police chief position became available at the end of November, when Dan Trelka retired from the force. From the pool of applicants, four candidates were given interviews and presented to the community in public forums this past February 2020. Mayor Quentin Hart made the selection; he’ll join me live this morning at 9:10 a.m. on KXEL Live & Local.
Bartels Lutheran Retirement Community in Waverly reported yesterday it falls under the state’s guidelines for an outbreak of COVID-19…namely, three or more confirmed cases among residents. Bartels says multiple residents and at least one staff member have tested positive; the first positive case in a resident was discovered last Thursday. The facility says the cases are all isolated to one area of the facility and affected residents are in isolation in accordance with public health guidelines.
Officials say high winds hampered firefighters’ efforts to put out a fire in a huge assisted living complex under construction in West Des Moines. The four-alarm fire was reported around the dinner hour Monday night. Fire officials say about a dozen construction workers were in the 200,000-square-foot facility at the time of the fire, but all were able to escape safely. The facility, west of Jordan Creek Town Center, had been set to open in the fall. Winds gusting up to 45 mph on Monday drove the fire and put neighboring buildings in the area at risk.
The state added 189 new cases, and confirmed six new deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday. A total of 1,899 cases of coronavirus had been confirmed in Iowa in 82 of the state’s 99 counties since the first cases on March 8, according to the Iowa Department of Public Health. The total number of deaths is now 49. The spike is largely related to mass testing at the Tyson meatpacking plant in Louisa County…86 of the 189 new cases come from there. A total of 163 are currently hospitalized statewide with the virus. At her daily news briefing yesterday, the governor was said widespread testing at meat packing plants was necessary to keep the food supply chain pure.
The parent company of Collins Aerospace is cutting the pay of all its salaried employees and implementing furloughs. Starting June 1, Raytheon Technologies said it will reduce its salaried employees’ pay by 10 percent until the end of the year. Those same employees will get an extra 15 days off this year. Collins Aerospace businesses will implement furlough programs across it operations for hourly employees. the company said. Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes volunteered to take a 20 percent pay cut.
The nation’s two largest rivers top a new listing of the most endangered waterways. The Washington, D.C.-based conservation organization American Rivers on Tuesday released its list of the 10 most endangered waterways in the United States. The Upper Mississippi River was cited as the most endangered, followed by the lower Missouri River. For both rivers, American Rivers cited increasingly severe flooding the groups says is driven by climate change.
The Waterloo Regional Airport is one area airport to receive emergency funding from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced yesterday that Waterloo’s airport will receive nearly $1.1 million in aid as part of the nation’s COVID-19 response through the CARES act. A total of $70.5 million will go to 79 Iowa airports to support continued operations and replace lost revenue due to the sharp decline in passenger traffic and other airport business due to the coronavirus pandemic. Airport director Keith Kaspari talks about the changes in air travel on KXEL Live & Local at 10:10 a.m. Municipal airports in Waverly, Charles City, Independence, Oelwein, Decorah and West Union will also receive between 20 and 30-thousand dollars each.
A newly-released report by the Iowa State Auditor says a former Buffalo city employee failed to deposit more than $42,000 in collections over a three-year period into the city’s bank account. The audit says the special investigation was prompted by a request from Buffalo city officials who had concerns about transactions processed by former Deputy City Clerk Riki Harrington. The audit found $42,390 in undeposited collections from April 2015 through August 2018.
An Iowa sheriff charged with assault and domestic abuse also faces allegations that he harassed female employees. Calhoun County Sheriff Scott Anderson was arrested in Manson Sunday, charged with domestic abuse against his ex-wife and assaulting an officer. A special prosecutor will handle the case. We know now a former county dispatcher filed a civil rights complaint last December claiming Anderson harassed her and retaliated when she complained. Iowa’s Civil Rights Commission this month found the complaint, which accuses the county of not doing enough to stop Anderson, worthy of further investigation.
